


Voice

by ClockworkDinosaur (orphan_account)



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, One Shot, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-01-19
Packaged: 2019-03-06 21:10:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13419711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ClockworkDinosaur
Summary: All sounds faded away until there was only that voice, his voice, echoing in her mind, bringing back memories of the pastel-and-chrome world stolen from her.





	Voice

**Author's Note:**

> me and my girlfriend were talking about the fact that a lot of voice actors do several characters in the same game, and what if one character sounded like another? and that sparked this quick short one shot :0!

Sunlight beat down on her neck, the cloudless noon sky endless and bright between the dilapidated, reaching spires of the buildings around her. Beside her, Nick Valentine shifted on his feet, glowing eyes wary as he stared past her at the barricaded raider camp. His cigarette was unlit but still held between his tattered silicone lips. The two were crouched on a cracked stone staircase, the solid railing giving them a good spot to wait and observe. Nora fiddled with her Pipboy for a moment longer, letting VATS scan the camp.

“There's six of 'em,” she said after a moment. “Should be easy enough to take care of.”

“I don't suppose there's a chance it's a group of friendly raiders, huh?” Nick sighed, putting his cigarette in his front pocket. Nora scoffed as she checked her gun, a modified .50 caliber sniper rifle that she had affectionately dubbed Roxie. She knelt near the top of the stairs, an elbow resting on the railing to steady her aim. Nick watched the raider camp. They were close enough to see the guard walking along the perimeter, to see the bloodstained wooden barricades with heads and limbs hanging from rusted chains like gristly warning signs. Just within the half opened gate, they could see the rickety platforms and makeshift staircases where the other raisers wandered.

There was a faint pop, a woosh of air, and the guard fell with a rain of blood.

The chatter of the camp seemed to go silent instantly.

“The hell was that?” a voice could be heard saying, shrill and strained.

“Spread out, but stay in cover,” said another, and Nora huffed as the raiders got in cover and out of her line of sight.

“Guess we're goin' in,” she said, replacing her sniper rifle with a shotgun.

“Fantastic,” Nick grumbled.

Abandoning all pretext of stealth, Nora leaped over the railing. Nick followed more carefully, face set in stony determination in contrast to Nora's excitement that bordered on bloodthirsty. She sauntered to the gates, nearly entering the camp before any raiders noticed. There was a shout followed by the percussive bang of a shotgun blast, and all hell broke loose.

Here, in the midst of a fight, Nora thrived. Nick often found himself wondering what Nora must have been like pre-war; did she repress the urge to fight or was this something that woke up with her two hundred years after the world she knew was blown to smithereens? He wasn't sure which option was more chilling.

“Cover me!” she shouted, ducking behind a flimsy wall of plywood. Bullets thudded into the wood, throwing splinters that she paid no mind to as she reloaded. Nick fired back, aiming for whatever vulnerable bits were exposed by the raider's cover. A moment later she brushed past him, ducking and weaving and definitely gaining a few wounds that made Nick flinch.

“You don't scare me, honey!” a raider jeered, sarcastic and biting.

Nora stopped, back rigid and eyes wide. All sounds faded away until there was only that voice, _his_ voice, echoing in her mind, bringing back memories of the pastel-and-chrome world stolen from her. A voice she had assumed was lost to a time she had repressed every painful memory of.

Nick barely had time to pull her back into cover before bullets could tear holes through her prone form. Splinters rained around them as they crouched behind the closest barricade, bullets tearing holes above their heads but neither of them cared enough. Her eyes were unfocused and confused, with an unfamiliar softness in her face. It was totally at ods with the fighter that charged into camp not five minutes before.

“Nora? Nora, snap out of it!” Nick hissed.

“Nate, N-Nate, he's...” Her mouth moved of its own accord, eyes darting around without seeing. “Nate? Nate!” she said, louder.

A phantom pain in Nick's chest caught him off guard. Nora struggled weakly against the hands on her shoulders, trying to stand, eyes searching blindly for a man who wasn't there.

“Nora, come back here, Nate's gone,” Nick said urgently. He squeezed her shoulders and she flinched.

“I-I heard...” She trailed off, her eyes slowly refocusing, the sounds of gunfire and shouts returning to normal volume. She swallowed thickly, shaking her head. “Shit, sorry. I don't... I don't know what just happened,” she admitted with a wavering smile. “Let's just get this over with.”

Her swagger was gone, replaced with almost robotic movements as she ducked out of cover.

They made short work of the remaining raiders, a silence falling over the camp as Nora rifled through their chem boxes, pocketing the highly valuable drugs within.

“Do you wanna talk about what happened back there?” Nick asked warily.

“Dunno what you're talking about,” Nora said, tone clipped and deliberately monotonous.

It was as close to an answer as Nick was going to get. He watched her collect the spoils and followed her wordlessly as they made their way back to Diamond City.

That startled softness, that confused fear, was the closest he would ever get to seeing what Nora was before. Lost, vulnerable, and unfit for this world.

Bloodthirstiness didn't come alive when she left that vault, searching for her son. She just crushed what was vulnerable and nurtured what remained.

If Nick had a heart, it would have broken.

 


End file.
